A “public scoping” meeting tied to the proposed Cedar Ridge Reservoir is scheduled from 4 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at the Abilene Convention Center.

The event offers a chance to learn and comment about the potential environmental impact of what could be a major future water source for Abilene and the surrounding area.

The proposed 6,635-acre, 74-billion-gallon project on the Clear Fork of the Brazos River would be created about 50 miles northeast of Abilene and be about three times the size of Lake Fort Phantom Hill.

There are two required permits the city needs to acquire to build Cedar Ridge, one state and one federal, said Tommy O’Brien, city of Abilene executive director of water utilities.

“To get the federal permit, the (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers) has determined that we have to do an Environmental Impact Statement,” O’Brien said.

One of the components required to prepare that statement is a public scoping meeting, he said.

Essentially, the meeting is an opportunity for anyone to say “here are some things we think you need to look at,” O’Brien said, “whether it’s the environment, the fish, the flora, the fauna, whatever.”

For the future

Cedar Ridge is planned on the Clear Fork of the Brazos River in Shackelford, Throckmorton, Haskell and Jones counties, upstream of Possum Kingdom Lake near Lueders.

The city wants to provide up to 34,400 acre-feet of additional, reliable water supplies yearly through a regional project to meet water demands through 2070.

The reservoir itself would be constructed by building a nearly one-mile long earthen dam.

The reservoir “continues to be our primary water management strategy for the future,” O’Brien said.

“It’s not to take care of things today, it’s to take care of things 50-70 years down the road,” he said.

In September, the city signed a $1.1 million contract with Stantec Consulting Services Inc. for Phase 1 work leading up to an Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed reservoir.

“The city of Abilene has to pay for that work, but the corps directs the contractor,” O’Brien said. “… They’re actually preparing the Environmental Impact Statement for the corps.”

A Clean Water Act permit is required for the construction and operation of the reservoir since it would impact the waters of the United States.

The Environmental Impact Statement itself focuses on the potential direct, indirect, and cumulative aquatic resource impacts, in addition to other relevant environmental and human resources that could be affected by the reservoir.

“The public has an opportunity to engage in and be involved with that process,” said Clay Church, a public affairs specialist with the Corps of Engineers. “And so, the scoping meeting is allowing the public to know what’s proposed, where it’s proposed, and the path forward.”

The meeting will be in an open-house format, Church said.

Written comments are encouraged, but no formal public statements or public testimony will be taken.

“If there’s something we’ve missed in our assumptions on the proposal, this is the time that the public can come forward and give us input,” Church said.

In materials released by the Corps of Engineers, the entity wants input on four primary questions in regard to the EIS:

Are alternatives to the proposed project important?

Are there other ways a reliable water supply can be secured?

Should a water supply reservoir be constructed at all?

Are there land use or transportation issues that might stand in the way of developing the proposed project?

Two fish species endemic to the Brazos River Basin have been proposed as endangered by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Services.

Those are the sharp nose shiner and the small eye shiner, while two freshwater mussels, the smooth pimpleback, and the Texas Fawnsfoot also occur in the basin.

The city’s sponsored surveys have not found any evidence of these species in the area of the proposed waterway.

In a statement released last week, a number of groups, such as the Texas Conservation Alliance and the Texas Living Waters Project, say they will comment on a variety of topics – including what they perceive as a lack of need for the project and the impact the reservoir would have downstream.

“I hope that people in Abilene, and really the whole state, realize that Abilene isn’t out to try to damage or harm the environment,” O'Brien said. “We want to work with the environment. Some people think that all we’re going to do is build a reservoir and we could care less about the environment, and that’s not true.”

The EIS is a vital, but singular, part of what remains a long process, O'Brien said, adding that "I think we're still looking at 2021 or 2022 to have the permit."